By Your Side
by RueEmerson
Summary: The Seeker rescues a slave girl who in turn feels obligated to serve him. Can he convince her to be who she is called to be? Do not own characters except Maleah.
1. Chapter 1

Maleah blankly stared into the fireplace as she listlessly went through the motions of cleaning the sword in her hands. As she had done so many times before, she swiped one edge to the tip and then back up the other side to the hilt.

As the slave girl to the town's sword maker Henry Smith, she had no other purpose in life but to do his bidding, which included attending to the swords he either made or that came to him from his customers.

She also dutifully serviced him as a wife would, cooking and cleaning his home and workshop as well as fulfilling his needs in bed. Not that she cared or liked to do any of the above.

Having been forced into servitude when she was 7, Maleah had no choice in the matter. Her father sold her to Henry to get money to support himself. Her mother had died giving birth to her and her father had slipped into a drunken stupor not long after.

He had ignored her pitiful pleas and clinginess as he handed her over to the burly man. She never saw her father again. He died less than a year later.

At age 10, Henry decided Maleah was old enough for his own pleasure and started raping her. Maleah learned not to struggle but rather keep still and limp and it would be over faster.

Fortunately, having made friends with a local marketwoman who felt motherly toward her, Maleah learned how to mix an herbal concoction to drink after Henry fell asleep so as not to get pregnant and bear the bastard's children.

When she could think for herself around the age of 12, she meekly petitioned Henry for the opportunity to return to her father's house so she could scavenge any personal belongings. He surprisingly albeit begrudgingly allowed her that one request.

And while she didn't find much upon her visit to the rundown and abandoned hut, she did stumble upon a sketch of which she assumed to be her mother.

Despite him banishing her to bondage, Maleah forgave her father then and there, having supposed he couldn't bear to look at her as a youngling as she was a spitting image of her mother with dirty blond hair and silver eyes.

In her early teens, Maleah attempted to escape but Henry had eyes and ears everywhere and local customers who automatically returned her to him. He didn't beat her on the spot for her traitorous behavior; rather he punished her in bed later. She came to hate the control a man had over a woman behind closed doors.

So Maleah learned to watch the sword play between customers and mimicked moves when home alone, for one day she intended to kill the man.

The opening to slay him came quicker than she would have thought.

On this day, as she mindlessly cleaned swords, Maleah, now 17, noticed Henry excitedly bustling around the property before bursting in the front door.

"Hurry and clean yourself up girl!" he ordered, snatching the sword from her hands and shoving her toward the bedroom. She gave him a confused look.

"Lord Rahl is coming! Put on that nice dress I gave you and do it fast!" he explained, his voice rising. Maleah indifferently shrugged her shoulders but did as he demanded, unwilling to face another night of abuse.

She had vaguely heard about the royal wandering around the Midlands. During their daily gossip, the women in the marketplace had mentioned Lord Rahl's wife had died and he had become a drifter since then. She wondered why he would leave all his riches behind as she pulled the one piece of finery she owned over her head.

Stepping into the main room, Maleah's breath was taken away as Lord Rahl appeared in the doorway. Henry hastily bowed and then puffed himself up in front of the Seeker.

She had never seen someone so ruggedly handsome who was so visibly sad. He barely noticed her as he spoke to Henry. He unsheathed his sword and handed it to Henry, who painstakingly accepted it and handled it as a thing to be cherished.

Henry beckoned to Maleah to his side and she silently accepted the sword from him, her eyes to the floor.

"Lord Rahl requests we clean it and restore it to its natural shine," Henry gently instructed her. She was surprised by his — dare she say loving — demeanor, obviously an act to impress the royal before him.

Maleah murmured the appropriate response of "yes, sir" before backing away with the regal sword cradled in her hands, never making eye contact with Henry or Lord Rahl.

In her years under Henry, she had never seen anything so magnificent up close. She immediately returned to the bedroom to change into her work clothes once again. Ironically, Henry permitted her to wear pants and shirts when she was at home, claiming that it was easier to keep her clothed, not to mention it made her less attractive to customers.

She heard the front door close before Henry barged into the bedroom and seized the sword from its resting place on the bed. He started talking to himself and she overheard him using the words "fetch a good price" and "ditch this place."

Henry laid the sword back on the bed without even casting a glance in her direction before heading out the door.

A sense of dread overcame Maleah as she watched him leave.


	2. Chapter 2

As he strolled through the village's marketplace toward the local bar, Richard didn't know what to make of the silver-eyed blonde wearing a dress that matched the color of her eyes.

He wondered if she was the sword maker's wife or daughter, although his gut told him she was neither.

The sword maker had told him to return in one hour so he reclined on a bar stool in a dark corner to wait it out. He had no desire to reveal himself as the Seeker or Lord Rahl to anyone in this little stop in the road.

A handful of merchants had figured out who he was but he swore them to secrecy with the help of a few coins.

He merely wanted to continue his wayward journey across the countryside in obscurity.

Kahlan's death had sucked the joy out of him. He had zero desire to stay in the castle and mete out justice without her at his side. He delegated duties to his closest advisors and withdrew from obliging the public.

His friends and his council had tried to convince him to stay or at least travel with one guard but in the end he packed a bag and slipped out during the night alone.

Not even Zedd could sooth his soul. The wizard agreed to let him be as long as there were no major uprisings that ultimately couldn't be suppressed by his soldiers.

So here he was a lone drifter without much purpose other than to occasionally quell pockets of unrest. He nursed a drink with hooded eyes.

* * *

><p>As he neared the sword maker's house, Richard heard bickering and a distinct slap.<p>

Henry had found a way to cheat Lord Rahl out of his sword but Maleah had refused to comply. She wasn't about to take part in double-crossing a royal. Even she wasn't that stupid and she mouthed off.

Angry she was disobeying him, Henry struck her with a sword handle in the face.

Richard entered the house and found Maleah on the floor with massive bruising across her cheekbone and an unmistakable hatred in her eyes. Henry stood over her and scoffed.

She was so done with this, Maleah fleetingly thought, and without a second thought, she grabbed the first sword she could — Richard's recently polished royal sword — and rammed Henry through the chest.

Henry was so stunned, he stood there with shock on his face, staring at Maleah. She pulled the sword out, reared back and slammed it his throat. With a gurgle, he toppled to the ground.

Knowing she had committed a crime by murdering her master, in the presence of Lord Rahl no less, Maleah dropped the sword and snatched up a dagger from the shelf.

Richard saw her intent and leaped over the table, knocking it out of her grip before she could slash her throat. In response, Maleah fell to her knees, her nose to the ground, now indebted to him for his act of mercy.

He squatted down in front of her and lifted her chin, searching her face.

"What happened here?" he quietly asked as he assessed her injuries.

"My master struck me, my lord," she replied, averting her eyes.

"Why?" Richard asked. Maleah finally met his gaze.

"He intended to sell your sword and I disagreed," she said.

Richard helped her to her feet before reaching for his bloodied sword on the floor.

Maleah rushed to grab her cleaning supplies and gingerly confiscated his sword from him to wipe it down again.

"What is your name?" Richard inquired as he eyed her.

"Maleah," she quietly replied.

"And how long have you been a slave?"

"Ten years," she softly said as she vigorously rubbed the blade to wash away the dark stains on it.

Richard stared at her, his jaw clenching as he did the math.

"Who sold you?"

Maleah stopped scrubbing and bowed her head.

"My father," she whispered.

His eyes glinting with fury, Richard frowned at the dead sword maker who had stolen this girl's youth and inwardly cursed her father for allowing it to happen.

Maleah finished cleaning his sword and presented it to him.

He slid it into his scabbard and motioned for her to come with him.

"I will tell the townspeople I killed Henry for his treachery and have taken you as my personal slave," Richard told her as he guided her into the village. Maleah bristled but knew this was her fate so she said nothing.

Richard noticed her flinch and shook his head, kindly smiling at her.

"It is merely a rouse. I absolve you of your bondage. As soon as we are on the outskirts, you are free to go wherever you please," he said.

The townspeople were genuinely surprised to see Lord Rahl in their midst and had no squabble with his edict. The motherly woman who had silently attended Maleah all these years hugged her and wished her well.

* * *

><p>Upon returning to the house to pack any items she wanted to claim, Maleah hoisted a pack over her shoulder along with a couple of swords strapped to her back and quietly followed Richard out the village she'd called home.<p>

He stopped at a crossroad and turned to her.

"As I said before, you are free to pick whatever path you choose. I have no ownership over you nor do I wish to," he said.

Maleah remained rooted in her spot and stared at her boots. She honestly didn't know what freedom meant.

"Maleah," he said, causing her to look at him. "I am not your master. And I may be Lord Rahl, but I don't believe in owning slaves."

Her silver eyes meeting his brown ones, Maleah implored him to let her travel with him.

"I have no place to go. I have never thought to have dreams of my own. I willingly will serve you in whatever way you need in return for safety and security, my lord," she beseeched.

Richard sighed.

"I won't be much of a companion," he said. Maleah smirked, the first time he'd seen her smile since he met her.

"You won't hardly notice I'm here," she replied. He snorted.

"I doubt that," Richard said as he started walking. Maleah fell in step behind him as they trekked into the countryside.


End file.
